Detroit, MI – Members of Detroit Residents Advancing Civilian Oversight (DRACO) are unhappy with how an unarmed woman (referred to in court by the pseudonym “Shelby Smith”)**, was treated by Corporal Dewayne Jones at Detroit Receiving hospital, and have announced a news conference to talk about it on the eve of his sentencing hearing. He was convicted of misdemeanor assault on March 20th. They will be joined by other activists who believe he must serve time for his violent crime. They are also disturbed by the fact that he remains a police officer in spite of the conviction.

Detroit Residents Advancing Civilian Oversight (D.R.A.C.O.) founder Scotty Boman will hold a news conference across from the Detroit 36th District Court at 2:00 PM on Tuesday April 30th. The Court is located at 421 Madison St, Detroit, MI 48226. He will be joined by other activists who believe that Dewayne Jones used excessive force last summer, and that he must face substantial consequences for his crime.

“Last Thursday Chief Craig told me that Jones still has his job. How is it that the DPD keeps a violent criminal in this position while firing people for non-criminal misconduct? Members of the community don’t have much faith in the justice system and expect Jones to get off easy. Misdemeanors have low maximum sentences, but he must see the inside of a cell to ensure that he and the community know that there is no preferential treatment for police and that violence will not be tolerated.”

In August 2018 a cell phone video surfaced that captured Detroit Police Corporal Dwayne Jones repeatedly punching a naked, unarmed woman as other officers restrained her (and one tried to pull him off her). Shortly after this Police Chief Craig suspended Jones with pay. On December 3rd 2018 the Wayne County prosecutor’s office arraigned Jones on felony misconduct and misdemeanor assault and battery charges.

On January 15th Thirty Sixth District Court Judge Cylenthia Miller dismissed the felony misconduct in office charge against Detroit Police Corporal Dewayne Jones in connection with the beating. He was found guilty of assault on March 20th and the court scheduled a sentencing hearing for May 1st.

A sentencing for Jones is scheduled for 9:00 AM on Wednesday May 1st in the courtroom (Rm. 339) of Kenneth J. King. (case #1806106901).

Activists will also be available for comment on Wednesday at 8:30 AM at the same location.

* Scotty Boman founded DRACO to educate the public on the roll of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners.

** Previous releases by DRACO referred to the victim by her true name, but since the court is using a different name we are assuming this is at her request and are respecting her wishes.

Here are some things other DPD officers said at a Board of Police Commissioners meeting. Most of them were from the Third Precinct.

I think it was a necessary part of Corporal Jones’s duty that day… I believe that any officer that would be in Corporal Jones shoes would probably act the same way that he did that day.
-Officer Hall –

That’s what I would have done in the same circumstance…If there were a poster child for Detroit Police, I would choose Corporal Jones.
– Officer Sutkey –

Pretty much all of us here, and back there, would have done the same thing. That’s what we are trained to do. OK? Hard hands are what we have to do when dealing with mental people… It’s what everyone else here would have done, and it is what I would have done.
– Lt. Lorie Peirce ( a previous direct supervisor to Jones) –

Corporal Jones, definitely, is the poster child of a Detroit Police officer… I would have done the exact same thing. There’s nothing more that we could do… Corporal Jones did everything that we were trained to do. Everything I would have done.
– Officer Ronald Latch –

Like everyone said, he is a poster child for DPD. He completes DPD… He was trained to do what he did.
– Sergeant Jason Kleintorch (Another former supervisor of Jones) –